Project FJ 40

2008 Progress

2008-12-25T10:19:00.006-05:00

Looking back on 2008, I can't believe that the year is almost gone and I have made very little progress and haven't added on update. So... for 2008 here goes.

First, I picked up another frame and running gear for free in order to get the driveshafts from it. Lydia and I were in need of a small utility trailer to pull behind the tractor for yard clean up, and I hope that one day I will need a small trailer for kayaks and canoes to pull behind the FJ40, so I decided to use some of the suspension and axle parts from the new 40 to make a trailer. I didn't bother to take any in-progress pictures, so here it is:

I took a Land Cruiser rear axle housing and cut the bearing ends flush with the axle flanges. Then, I took a set of FJ spindles and turned the knuckle end to press into the end of the housing, and then bolted the spindle flanges to the axle flanges and then welded the two flanges togther.

The result is a full-floating trailer axle that accepts FJ hubs, so I threw a set of hubs on and had a trailer axle. Then I cut the spring hangers off of the scrap frame I had picked up and used those to mount stock front land cruiser springs to the frame of the trailer. Not too bad, and now the parts are commonly replaceable land cruiser spares.

The main frame members and tonge are 1/8"x2" Box tube, and the rest of the box is made of 1/8" x 2" angle. It's plenty strong without being too heavy. Then I used 5/4 decking to finish her off.
I actually designed the trailer to be SOA with 35" tires, but it was too tall to tow with anything but the unfinished land cruiser, so for now it is SUA with 31" tires. They rub a a bit, but I have some less agressive 30" tires to put on that should take care of that. The overall size is 42x60x18" for the box, which holds a little less than 1 yd of mulch. All that is left is to make a tailgate.

After the trailer was finished, I took on the last piece of the tub that I needed to finish before paint... the Transmission hump. The stock hump wasn't nearly big enough for the NV4500 and the 3" Diesel Exhaust, so I started from scratch. Here's the finished product:
You can also see the Twin sticks I fabricated for the transfer case sticking up through the hump.

So, the resolution for 2009 is to get more done than this year (that won't be tough) and at least start the engine and maybe drive it around the yard... That'll take a painted tub, steering, clutch hardware, and brakes, so we'll see how it goes. I'd also like to take lots more pictures!
Merry Christmas!

Misc Progress Post 1

2007-10-05T10:21:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since an update and I have gotten a lot of small things acomplished. First, I started out by modifying the fuel sender out of the P30 tank to work with the S10 blazer tank I am using. The P30 tank is about 14" deep, and the Blazer tank is 10" deep. Here's the sender as it came out of the P30.

I bent the return up so that it was approximately at the bottom of the tank. Then, I cut the a section out of the supply, and put it back together with fuel hose and hose clamps. The supply and return were then hose clamped together to make the whole thing more rigid. Finally, I shortened the arm on the fuel level float so that the sender would read full and empty correctly. Below is the finished product. I installed the sender in the tank and mounted the tank to the truck for the final time. Next, I moved on to rebuilding the stock 3speed transfer case. First, everything was disassembled. Here's an "Exploded view" of all of the parts. Next, I cleaned the main case so that I could begin reassebling the case with all new bearings and seals from Cruiser Outfitters. I found that Easy-Off Oven cleaner did a great job cleaning off the grease and grime from the aluminum casing. Here's the cleaned casing.Unfortunately, I did not get any good shots of the reassembly of the Tcase. I did however catch my shop help sleeping on the job....

That's all for now... I'll have to go out and take some more pictures for the next blog.

Engine and Tranny Mounted!

2007-07-20T16:51:00.000-04:00

As in the last post, I now have the engine and tranny mated together and ready for installation. I am waiting on an advanced adaptors Transfer case adaptor and a transfer case rebuild kit to mount the transfer case to the transmission. I decided to go ahead and mount the transmission and engine, as it shouldn't be difficult to mount the transfer case after the fact. I saved the liquid filled mounts from the Frito Lay van to use, so I fabricated up some mounts for these.

These are made out of 6x6x1/4 wall square tubing and welded to the frame. I decided to use the front mount engine brackets left over from the P30, which is why the passenger side mount is higher (The engine was tilted 10 degrees in the P30) I threw some rust-oleum on them and finagled the engine in. I mounted the engine 5.5" behind the radiator support to save room for a Ford Taurus electric fan. Here are some pictures of the engine installed, with the rear of the transmission supported where I think it will be by the engine hoist.
The front springs sagged down a good bit, so I may need to add an add-a-leaf for the extra weight. We'll have to wait and see on that.

That's all for now!

Tim

Tub Primed and some New toys...

2007-07-20T16:29:00.000-04:00

I decided that I wanted to put a coat of primer on the tub, but not complete the body work until I had the engine, tranny, and transfer case installed. The reason for this is that I didn't want to take a risk of beating up shiny new paint, but I didn't want my shiny new panels to rust. So, I cleaned up the body really well with 80 grit sandpaper, then wiped it down with Dupont Prep-Solv. Then, I shot the tub with one coat of Dupont Nason 2k High Build primer. It didn't go on as smooth as I had hoped, but I learned a lot during the process, and can definitely tell that my HVLP spraying skills improved from the beginning to the end of this coat.This method will require much more masking when I finish up the painting, but that's ok. Now that the tub is protected against future rust, I can move onto the more exciting things.

The next big hurdle in the project is the Clutch/Transmission/Transfer case install. I have been putting together parts for this for a few weeks now for this next phase. Here's a quick layout of my new toys:

From top left, clockwise: New OEM replacement Clutch for a 1996 Dodge 2500 Turbo Diesel, Clutch disk from the same on top of a used, resurfaced flywheel, NV4500 Transmission from http://www.smartpartsauto.com/, Mopar Clutch Arm, Pile of Grade 8 Bolts to stick all of this together, and Cummins Flywheel bolts. The transmission was a wonderful Engagement Gift from Lydia :) First, I assembled the Bellhousing, clutch fork, and throwout bearing.

Next, the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and cover are installed to the engine:

Now to mate the two together....

Getting the tranny output shaft to line up with the splines in the clutch turned out to be a real challenge. I'm sure that with a tranny jack it would have been much easier, but at least I don't have to do that again for at least a few years.... Stay tuned for the next episode... putting this beast into the truck!

Body Stripping and High Steer

2007-07-06T13:02:00.000-04:00

For the last month I have been patching, welding, and stripping the paint off of the tub. Most of the stripping was done with a wire wheel because there were 4 coats of paint on the truck, making sanding very time consuming. Here is a picture of the tub with the paint stripped off:

Next, I removed the tub one last time to paint the bottom with two coats of Zero Rust. Here's the bottom of the tub ready to go back on the frame. I'm going to do the wheel wells once the tub is on the frame. Next, I re-installed the body onto the frame for the last time. To make the truck easier to move around the shop, I decided to go ahead and install the steering. For this truck, I am using Trail-Gear's high steering setup. The Steering arms and tie-rod bolted right on. Since I am using saginaw power steering, I had to do some custom fabrication on the drag link. I made a insert for one end of the drag link to accomodate a 1-ton chevy TRE. Initially, I mocked the steering up to have the drag link bolt to the bottom of the pitman arm. The paralell drag link and tie rod look pretty good. However, upon a full left turn, the drag link hits the leaf spring.

I'm sure that the springs will settle a good bit after I put the engine weight on them, making this worse. I decided to ream the pitman arm out to allow the TRE to mount above the arm. Here is how I am going to run the steering. I am missing one Jam Nut for the Pitman arm TRE, and this should be in tomorrow.

This should give ample clearance between the springs and the drag link, even under flex. It'll also flatten out a little under the engine load.

That's all for now. Next up is to prime and paint the tub, as well as begin putting together the powertrain....

Installing Quarter Panels

2007-05-02T12:24:00.000-04:00

I finally received my new rear quarter panels and went to fitting them up. First step is to brace up the tub and remove the old quarter panel.

I braced across the tailgate and across between the door pillars. Then I welded a brace between these two to shore everything up. Next, the new quarter panel is tacked into place, then the top seam is fully welded to the tub. Here's the finished product:

I like the look of a full fender much better than the "Comp Cut" that was done before, but I may have to trim a bit for the 35s. The last step on this side will be to install the re-located filler for the rear gas tank. On to the passenger side...

All welded up and ready to go... Finally I started on the rear sill replacement because the one that was in there was shot. I decided to replace the sill with a piece of 3x2" 1/8 wall tubing. Here it is welded in partially. I also had to replace some rust along the vertical of the door opening as well. Here's a progress shot of the sill.

I've got to finish up the sill, Install the fuel tank filler, and then begin the process of cleaning up the rest of the tub to prep for paint...

That's all for now.

Cage Part 2

2007-04-12T11:53:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days I have been fabricating the seat mounts for the cage. The concept is pretty simple, the seats sit on two pieces of cage tubing that stretch from one door bar to the other. I connected the two pieces of cage tubing with 1.5" Angle for the seat sliders to sit on. Here's a pic of the mounts finished:This setup keeps the seats up off of the floor and ties them into the cage for strength. Next are some pictures with the seats and console set. Here's a Front/Top view of the whole thing put together:
I chose gray over black for the seats so they will stay cooler in the summer with the top off. The ammo box fits just right for a small console between the two seats. Here's a picture from behind showing how the diagonals will be in the right position to tie in the shoulder harnesses.

All that I have left to do on the cage now is to drill the mounting holes for the seats, add tabs for the harnesses, and clean it up and paint it... I got word today that the quarter panels will ship today, and I should be ordering a transmission soon.

That's all for now!

Roll Cage part 1

2007-04-04T12:00:00.000-04:00

Since I'm still waiting on my new quarter panels to come in to finish the tub up, I decided to start working on the cage. The cage that was in the second tub I got was in fair condition but wasn't quite as beefy as I'd like. Also, I needed somewhere to mount harnesses, and wanted to tie the new seats into the cage. Here's where it stands right now:

The black parts are what I started with, and the blue tubes are what has been added so far. the tubes are blue because I'm recycling them from the cage I built for my Jeep. I decided to add the door bars to mount the seats to and also to add a bit more protection to the door area since I plan to run no doors most of the time. Next, I added the diagonals to the B hoop to tie the shoulder harnesses into without impeding access to the back too much. Finally, I added the two spreaders between the A and B hoops. My seats should be in tomorrow so I can finish up with the seat mounts and get the thing cleaned up and painted.

Finally, I had to include the required weld closeup shot. Not too bad eh?

I'll post more up when I get the seats in and the mounts fabricated. That's all for now...

Floorboards

2007-03-02T12:56:00.000-05:00

I started replacing the Drivers side rocker, but most of the metal behind it all the way into the floorboards was toast. One of the Previous owners of this tub had done a "repair" by tacking in new floor boards over the old rotted out ones. First step was to remove the repair and see what we've got.

The scene under there was not a good one. Pretty much all of the metal other than the support pieces was completely rusted out, and the rust went up the sides of the tub under the door sill and up panel behind the floor pan. I replaced all of this with 11 gauge sheet metal, so it should be there to stay. Here's the completed repair.Also, there was a rusted out part of the passenger side floorboard right in front of the gas tank strap mount. I replaced that with the 11ga also. Here's that replacement.The only remaining rust repair on the tub is the Drivers side rocker, the rear sill, and the rear quarter panels. I haven't gotten the new quarter panels yet in, so I'll finish this all up when they get in. Then I can get to the sanding, bodywork, and paint.

Passenger Rocker Panel Replacement

2007-02-14T12:06:00.000-05:00

Both Rocker Panels on this tub are completely rotted out, so I started today on replacing them. The rot was concentrated in the rockers because the previous owner had installed Aluminum Diamond Plate here, likely to cover up some slight rust. Unfortunately, this method of "repair" acutally makes the rot get even worse. I had a sheet of 11ga left over from another project, so I decided to use this. Thicker steel in the rocker panels surely won't hurt. Today I got the Passenger side panel installed. First I removed the old rocker panel.

Next, with the opening size determined, I fabricated my replacement. To bend the 11ga, I cut a V groove almost all of the way through the steel on the back side. Then, using a hammer and a bench vice I bent the steel at the groove. Finally I laid a few 1" beads of weld to hold the bend from the backside and welded up the corners. Here's a back view of the finished product:

Next, I clamped and tacked the replacement into place for welding. It's a pretty good fit. The gap between the panel and the underside of the doorsill will weld up easily. Here's the panel tacked into place.

Finally, I welded the whole thing in, except for the front and rear edges, which are bolted in the original tub. I'll bolt these in like factory. I welded the panels in small segments so as to not warp the panels. These panels aren't too likely to warp much because of theturned under edge on the bottom and the thickness.

A little grinding and a skim coat of body filler should have these looking like new. Next up, Drivers side rocker!

Finally some progress

2007-02-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

I finally got all 95% of the Frito Lay Van Scrapped and out of my driveway. This was really a pain in the ass, but it was worth it because between the scrap aluminum and steel and selling off the wheels, tires, and rear axle I broke even on the van and have the Cummins 4bt left for myself. I also was able to trade the Chevy Transmission and Chevy to Cummins Adaptor for a Dodge Adaptor and Flywheel to use a NV4500HD tranny!

Here's the last load of van heading for the scrap yard.
Next, I finally got some warm enough weather to paint the frame. Here's the frame fully painted andthe suspension and axles installed for the final time. After the paint dried, I installed the body for the first intial fittment. I'm not sure wether or not I'll have to remove the body one last time but I don't think so. I wanted to work on the body on the frame to avoid alignment issues if I had fixed it separately. It was actually pretty easy to put the body on myself using the engine crane as seen below...

It's really starting to look like a FJ40 now!

I'm going to replace the rear quarter panels because there's some good rot on those, and the "Comp Cut" makes the 35s look way too small. I'll also have to replace both rocker panels because the black diamond plate is covering some major Rot.

That's all for now!

Rear Fuel Tank

2007-01-14T18:28:00.000-05:00

One of the things I don't like about the layout of a stock FJ40 is the fact that your passenger sits right over the fuel tank. The other concern I had was getting the fuel supply and return lines to work out with the fuel tank and the 4bt. I read on a post on www.ih8mud.com that a 94 S-10 Blazer tank should fit nicely in an FJ55, so I decided to try in in the '40. It sure does! The fuel line problem is solved also, because the sender hole in the Blazer tank and the sender hole in the P30 engine donor are the same... Both fuel tank problems solved!

I cut down the fuel tank straps from the P30 van and used them. As you can see, I welded some mounts to the rear crossmember to hang the tank from. I Drilled a hole through the rear frame member and bolted the other end of the straps. Here's a picture from the side, showing that the tank doesn't limit the departure angle (much) with a spring over and 35's. Should also be no problem for diff clearance.

One from behind...

Finally, a shot from above showing how well the tank fits in the rear frame area.I may need a small doghouse to accomodate the re-located fuel filler neck(and a relocated filler), but I am replacing the whole quarter panel in my tub, so this will be easy to deal with then. I'll build a skid plate to protect the tank also, but this can wait til the truck is operational...

That's all for now!

4bt removed and new tub

2006-12-05T12:27:00.000-05:00

First, I finally got the 4bt entirely removed from the van chassis and split the 2wd TH400 transmission off of the engine. Then I mounted it to an engine stand so I can clean it up and replace a few seals.

Here's the engine as it sits.

Next, I picked up another tub from my buddy David. This one is in slightly better shape than the one I have, but has some really bad rocker rot that will have to be fixed. Also, I will replace the rear quarters because the previous owner hacked this tub for big tires.

Most likely I'll have to graft the two tubs together to get a good finished product.

That's all for now. The next step is to disassemble the Frito Lay Truck so I can get it out of my yard and recoup some cost from the scrap yard.

Preparing the 4BT for removal

2006-12-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

This week, Lydia and I have been working to prepare the van for engine removal. First we removed the radiator, radiator support, and everything in front of the engine. After some looking and some research, It appears that removing the engine will be much easier through the side door and the access panel under the floor of the van. You can see that the front of the engine is almost even with the windshield...

Next, I removed the acces panel and the floor panel over the transmission. I think I'll be removing the engine and transmission as one unit, and then splitting them. Here's the engine from the top/side

Here's a view of the motor and tranny through the side door. Pulling it out this way should be no sweat.

My Goal is to have the engine pulled, separated from the transmission, and mounted on an engine stand this weekend. I'll clean it up good and replace a few seals before it goes in the Cruiser.

Finally, here's the beautiful engine donor in her final resting place. I hope to have the whole van disassembled and hauled away for scrap before the end of the year because I need the driveway space back....

Also, I am picking up another Tub/Hood/ and windshield frame this weekend. The new tub is in much better shape than the one I have, and also has a good windshield (mine's cracked) and a factory roll bar. This new tub should save me a great deal of work.

That's all for now....

Engine Donor

2006-11-21T19:06:00.000-05:00

Finally, this weekI picked up my engine donor. It's a 1980 Chevy P30 step van that I bought from http://www.dovebid.com/ . This van has the Cummins 4bt 3.9L turbo diesel engine I plan to use. I got the whole van for $1269, all taxes and fees included. Not bad conscidering the engine alone would get $2000 on e-bay alone!

I drove the van 2.5 hours back to my house from Charlotte, NC. The engine ran terrifically the whole way, although the top speed of 60MPH was a little slow. I actually got passed by a wide load, that's never happened before... Due to the sidewinds I encountered, I don't think I'd have wanted to go faster anyways. I started with a 1/2 tank of diesel and only burned about 1/8 tank on the 2.5 hour drive at near redline. I wonder how big the tank is???

The engine is very clean and doesn't appear to have much mileage on it. The van was shipped from the factory with a 350 gas motor, and only has 80k miles on it between both motors!!
I'll probbably begin removing the Cummins from the van soon, and will get some motor shots then.

That's all for now!

Steering Box and Front Bumper

2006-11-21T19:01:00.000-05:00

I've made a little progress in the steering gear department the last few weeks. First, I welded in a scab plate on the passenger side to help stiffen up the front frame for the new saginaw power steering. This plate is 3/16" steel and should help stiffen things up.
Next, I set about mounting the power steering box to the frame on the drivers side. I made a 1/4" plate to mount the box to and welded it to the frame. Then I used stacks of washers to mount the box ears to the plate. I drilled through the frame and the plate with a 1/2" drill and then bolted it on with the washers in place. With the box in place, I welded the washers together. This may not be the prettiest way to do it, but it will be very strong. I also cut a recess into the front crossmember to recess the steering box into the frame. Here it is with the box mounted up. The steering box is a remanufactured box for a 1968 Chevy Impala. This box is a 4 bolt box with 4.5 turns from lock to lock, and is the most often used saginaw box for power steering conversions.

Finally, I welded on my new front bumper. It's about 42" of C5 channel. I decided to weld it on to help stiffen up the front end since I had to cut the front crossmember for the steering box. I'll clean and paint when I clean and paint the frame. Here's a pic from behind of the bumper.

That's all for this segment, stay tuned for the engine donor....

Rear Axle Complete

2006-11-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

All of the fabrication is now done on the rear axle. I rotated the pinion up 4 degrees along with my spring over conversion. Also, I added welded up the rear disk mounts. I mounted the calipers such that they would be as high as possible and also have the bleeders at the top of the caliper. Next, I re-assembled and painted the rear axle. I prepared each axle by wire wheeling to bare metal, then applied a phosphoric acid etch, then painted on the Zero-rust. We'll see how it holds up. Here's the axle painted and mocked up under the frame with the tires installed.

Next, I'll have to get the saginaw steering box installed on the frame, and then I can finish and paint the frame.

Tires, Wheels, and rear disk parts

2006-10-31T12:13:00.000-05:00

I've gotten some work done in the last week, as well as pulled together some parts for the rear disks. I also picked up some nice used 35x12.50 BFG Mud Terrains and my Mom got me some wheels to mount them on for my birthday. Thanks Mom!

First order of business was to mount up two of the new tires and rims. This way I can roll the front axle around and free up two of my jackstands. Here's one of the tires mounted with to the front axle and the front axle mounted to the frame. I also mounted a fender to see how the spring flip and shackle reversal puts the tire in the wheel well.

I should loose some height, 2" or so when I install the motor and body. Looks good to me!

I also disassembled the rear axle and gathered the needed parts for the rear disk brake conversion. Here's the housing with everything pulled apart. I'll clean it up and weld on the new brackets for the SOA and the rear disks. In the second picture is the internals. Those axle shafts are beefier than the 31 spline shafts in my 9" on my jeep. Nice!

Finally, here are the components for the rear disk swap. From left to right, we have The AA Manufacturing Metric Chevy Caliper brackets, ($8.99 ea), the Rebuilt Metric Chevy Calipers (20.99 ea including core charge), Pads ($12.99 for both wheels) and 1/2 ton Chevy 4x4 truck rotors ($23 ea). My buddy Carl opened up the center hole in the rotors to fit over the centers of the Land Cruiser Axleshafts.

This overall conversion will cost less than rebuilding the stock drums and should work much better. The other cool thing about keeping the stock transfercase is that the rear driveshaft mounted Emergency Brake keeps me from having to worry about an E brake on the wheels. Stay tuned for the rear axle cleaning, painting, and assembly....

Front Disks

2006-10-24T21:57:00.000-04:00

I got one side of the front axle completely done with the front disk brakes. Progress is slow between removing and cleaning the Mini-truck brake stuff, installing new seals, and getting everything put back together. Here's the driver's side done.

Rather than use the mini truck calipers and rotors, I did the upgrade to the 81 FJ40 vented rotors and the '86 Truck IFS calipers. These pieces aren't any more expensive than the mini truck stuff, and they should work better with less fade.

For steering, I fabricated a double arm using the Mini Truck and land cruiser steering arms. For those that aren't familiar, with a spring over conversion, at least the drag link needs to be above the springs. Also, the closer to horizontal the drag link is, the less bumpsteer you'll have. The double arm helps with both of these. This means that my Tie rod will use the Mini Truck TREs, and the Drag link will use the Land Cruiser TREs, at least on the axle end. The pitman arm I am planning on using is reamed for Chevy 1-ton steering parts, so That'll probbably be what gets used at the pitman end. We'll see how I can get this all mated up. I used the cut off portion of the driver's side toyota arm to see how welding the forged steering arms was. I welded a piece of 1/4" plate to the piece of steering arm, and then "tested" it with a sledge hammer. I couldn't get the weld to budge or crack, so this should be plenty strong. The web between the two arms is also 1/4" steel. In the future I'd like to go to crossover steering, but this will keep the project rolling for less $$.

To finish up the conversion, I have one more stubborn Birfield to separate, then I'll get it all put back together and move on to the rear axle and the frame.

Update: I finally got the stubbor Birf off, using the "Bobby Long" method. Place Birf on ground, stand on shaft and hit the bell with a big hammer. A little violent, but it Worked for me!

Front Suspension Fabrication

2006-10-17T09:45:00.000-04:00

In the last week I have finished all of the fabrication on the front axle of the cruiser. Unfortunately, I don't have any progress pictures because my camera batteries were dead, so here's the results of the last week's work. First, I installed the sleeves for the front shackles through the frame. In order to place them correctly, I put the engine, transmission, and transfer case over the front axle to help simulate the weight of the truck on the springs. I set the shackle angle at about 30 degrees from vertical. Hopefully fully weighted I'll get a decent shackle angle. Here are the sleeves welded in with the springs and shackles installed and no weight on them.
Next, I set the pinion angle to point at the approximate location of the Tcase output and set the perches at this angle. Finally, With the axle bolted in and the weight on it, I set the Caster Angle to 5 degrees. Here's the axle all welded up in its new configuration. Those spring perches are Dodge D60 spring perches. Big O Dodge here in Greenville lists them at $8 a pair. While I had the axle out, I decided to beef up the ring gear area of the diff cover, so I welded on a strap of 3/16 steel to cover this area. With the turned up pinion this area will be more vulnerable than in the stock configuration.

To form this around the diff cover, I welded the bottom first, then hammered it down and welded it as I moved upwards. It fits pretty nicely. Here's the axle mocked up in its final location.

I've got some Zero-rust coming to paint the axles and the frame with. Once I have the axle painted, I'll start re-assembling it with the Mini-Truck Axle parts and move on to the rear axle...

Some progress and plan changes...

2006-10-10T00:37:00.000-04:00

Well, a few things have happened since the first update. First, I decided that I am going to go ahead and do a spring over and shackle reverse on this truck. This decision mainly stemmed from the need for larger tires to compensate for the diesel's lower RPMs, and also to gain some ground clearance and get a better ride. Since these two mods mainly involve fabrication, they should be relatively cheap as well. (Cheaper than a decent set of new lift springs anyways). As a good start, I located a set of decent condition stock springs. Thanks to Alex Garcia with Upstate Cruisers for the springs! I'll clean and paint these, and then install new bushings before I use them. Also I went ahead and cut off the spring and shackle mounts from the front end and re-welded the spring mounts to the front of the frame.

Once I get the springs cleaned up and the new bushings in I can use these to set where the rear shackle hanger needs to be. Since I don't have the engine in the truck anymore to load the springs to set the shackle location I'll have to temporarily add the engine and some more weight back to the truck. Also, I got the front half of the frame wire brushed. I'll probbably get the frame cleaned and ready for primer and paint this week. That's all for now...

A week of frame work

2006-09-28T12:08:00.000-04:00

I stripped all of the unneccessary brackets off of the frame for the engine swap. Removed were the steering box mount (going to saginaw PS), Engine Mounts, and Transmission Mounts. All of these were riveted to the frame, so I ground off the heads and pounded them out. I also ground off the remains of the rear sill repair that was welded to the frame.
Now to go about fixing a few bad spots on the frame. First, There's a spot where It looks like someone pulled the truck by the center of the rear frame cross member with a hook.

This spot is too bent to be straitened with the hammer, so I'll cut out a chunk and weld in some new steel.

The 0ffending chunk removed...

And the patch installed.... Now on to the front crossmember. The bottom of the front crossmember had some rotten area along the back edge. I decided to replace the whole bottom of this crossmember with new steel. Here's the patch from the underside of the frame. Lastly, I got the wheels, tires, springs, shocks, and old knuckles stripped off of the Land Cruiser Front Axle. The plan going forward is to rebuild the axles, Finish cleaning, repairing, and painting the frame, and set the axles under the frame with the stock leaf springs in the stock spring-under setup. If I need more lift to clear the oil pan of the new engine, I'll change that then. That's all for this week!

Frame and new front axle

2006-09-19T12:41:00.000-04:00

I picked up the Mini Truck Axle today. The plan is to use the knuckles, brakes, etc from this axle on the FJ front housing. I'll use later model truck 86-89 rotors and calipers since these rotors are not vented for cooling. The rotors and calipers should be replaced anyways.

The stock axle is now removed, and the frame is ready for cleaning, repair, and re-finishing.

There's only two small pieces of rot on the frame, and those should be easy to replace. That's all for this week!

Out with the Motor

2006-09-18T13:33:00.000-04:00

Today I used my nifty new engine crane to remove the engine, transmission, and transfercase. The only part of this that I'm planning on saving is the transfer case, because I want to keep the stock Offset differential rear end.

Also, I removed the rear axle. It'll get re-installed, with some sort of disk brake conversion. I HATE Drum brakes, so they're outta here. Today I also bought a toyota mini truck (1983) front axle from my new favorite junkyard, www.bakertruckparts.com They were really friendly and had some great stuff. Best of all is that they only have trucks, SUVs, and 4x4s, so I don't have to sift through Pintos to find what I need. the new front end will make the front disks a snap.

Here's a shot from the front, you can see where I cut out the stock front bumper to get the engine crane closer to where it needed to be. The stock bumper was beat to heck anyways, and had to be cut off because someone along the way decided that the only way to keep it on there was to weld it. Yuck!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to pick up the new front axle, then get ready for a vacation to do some kayaking in WV, Wed-Sun, so no progress for a week or so...

Gotta get em Sep-a-rated...

2006-09-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

Today I finally got the tub off of the frame. This took more work than I expected due to the tailgate sill repair that I mentioned last time... It was also welded to the frame from underneath in an area that I couldn't get to to cut. So... I had to cut the sheetmetal away from the Angle iron that was used to replace the Sill. Not too bad, but still a lot of cutting. What was left of the sill is still on the frame to be removed more easily with the body out of the way. You can see the sill and tailgate hinges still on the back of the frame.

Here's the tub in it's new temporary home. Getting the tub off and onto those sawhorses wasn't easy by myself, but I had enough jacks and 2x4s to make it work.

I'm going to leave the frame etc outside this afternoon to hopefully get cleaned off a little more in the rain.

Next I need to procure an engine hoist to remove the engine, transmission, and Transfer case. then the cleaning and re-building process can begin.

One week later...

2006-09-12T12:07:00.000-04:00

So one week after unloading the '40 into the shop, I'm preparing to remove the body from the frame. First, I disconnected and removed the steering column, the transmission shifter and the transfer case shifter and removed the gage cluster. The gages will be replaced by a set of whitefaced Autometer gages.

Next, I built a set of wide, low saw horses to set the tub on. These should faciltate easier working on the tub, and keep it up off of the floor.

One last little complication... one of the Previous owners replaced the Tailgate Sill with a piece of angle, and it looks OK. The problem is that the angle is welded to the Frame and the Body.... That'll make separating things a little tougher....

A few cutting wheels should take care of that...

Next stop... body off frame!

Day 3...

2006-09-08T01:20:00.000-04:00

I REALLY doubt that I'll work on this thing 3 days in a row... hahaha I've said that before...
I got the cruiser stripped down to pretty much only the tub sitting on the frame.

Strangely, the screws holding the windshield hinge on the passenger side came right out. However, the screws on the Driver's side all had to be drilled out. Underneath the drivers side hinge was a nice pocket of ROT..

This'll be fun to reconstruct.... :) Also, unfortunately, I broke the windshield when removing the windshield frame from the truck. Since it's flat glass, I think I should be able to get a replacement made for not too much $$$.. That's all for now. I think I need to go paddling tomorrow and let the dust settle in the shop....

Day 2...

2006-09-06T11:38:00.000-04:00

I doubt that I'll work on this truck two days in a row too often, but the newness is still there....
First thing today, I got the roll bar/gun rack removed and out of the way.
Also gone today are the side skirts and front grille, as well as the radiator. Here's a pic with the grille and skirts removed.

The worst rot in the tub is right under the passenger seat under the gas tank. This should be easy to re-build once the tub is off. One of the previous owners did a good job rebuilding the Drivers side already, so that won't need any work.

Now I'm off to the store to buy some rust removal gear, most likely a sand blaster and a DA sander. More to come...

Thus it begins

2006-09-05T10:47:00.000-04:00

So here's the start of my next major project... I got this landcruiser from my friend David who needed some help installing some parts on his nicer FJ40.

Notice the cool camo job and homemade safari seat and soft top frame. These will have to go. Overall the body is in I believe useable condition, but there's definitely going to be some metal that needs to be replaced. Fortunately, I can't find any Bondo on this body, so there won't be too much hidden rust. (I hope!)

What I'm missing is most everything under the hood other than the radiator and the engine block itself. This shouldn't be a problem, as I wasn't planning on using the engine anyways.

Pulling it into the shop with the tractor. It'll probbably be in the shop for the next year or so. The goal is to put a small diesel engine in it, most likely a Cummins 4bt. This engine is commonly found in everything from Frito Lay Delivery Trucks to construction equipment. This may change as the project unfolds, but the reliability of the Cummins, plus the efficiency (With one, a Frito Lay Truck can get 20+ MPG and people who have done similar swaps claim mileage in the high 20's) are very appealing.

Today I stripped the Safari seat and Top frame off with the sawzall.

Looking better already. The Roll Bar has to go too, as it's sitting on top of some 6x4" square tube and just welded to the sheetmetal. Would you trust your life to this?

That should come off in the next day or two. Then begins the arduous process of cleaning, replacing rusted out sheetmetal, and preparing for paint. I'll remove the body from the frame so I can give it the same treatment.

Tune in for more updates as it progresses.